He started with optimising his work self – and successfully managed to get as much high quality work done as possible in as little time as possible. The key is to be more “effective, rather than efficient” by choosing the right things to work on in the first place. After that, he had more time to really look at everything he was doing and sought to change it so that he could be his utmost self.

During his self-discovery, he found one routine that nearly everyone does every day that could probably use some upgrading.

Upgrade Your Coffee To Nootropics Tea

Tim Ferriss had a problem that he needed to fix.

He would drink a cup of coffee and could feel the effects of caffeine for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, though, he experienced a huge crash that took an additional two cups of coffee to recover from.

Now, before we dive into what Tim Ferriss suggests, we need to tell you something very important about optimising yourself. There are all sorts of tips, tricks, and hacks all over the internet. It’s easy to get lost and confused about what you should do to increase focus, sleep better, lose weight, gain muscle, and especially about what you should be eating.

If there’s one thing you need to remember from this entire article, it’s this: What works for someone else may not work for you.

The headline above is a little misleading because you won’t actually be upgrading your coffee. Tim Ferriss has dubbed this his “Titanium Tea”. So trade in your coffee for Tim’s Titanium Tea and see if you experience the same effects.

Here’s the recipe:

2 Tablespoon Pu-Erh Tea

1 Tablespoon Kabuse Sencha Green Tea

1 Tablespoon Yerba Mate

1 Tablespoon Butter from Grass-Fed Cows

1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil

Directions:

Boil about 1 liter of water.

Put the teas and Yerba Mate in a steeper.

If you don’t want caffeine, steep the tea for about one minute in a small cup. Discard the water. This process should remove 80-90% of the caffeine. Then, steep for another two minutes in another small cup.

If you want the caffeine content, then steep the tea for about 3 minutes in a small cup.

Meanwhile, put the butter and coconut oil in the remaining water to allow it to melt.

When the tea is done steeping, combine it with the water and stir it or blend it for a nice frothy head similar to a Guinness.

The reasons behind Tim’s titanium nootropics tea

Tim’s issue was that his caffeine buzz was wearing off too quickly. This is because he built up his tolerance to caffeine. The easiest thing to do is to simply stop drinking anything with caffeine for 2-3 days. But the actual level of difficulty of that may be a bit harder for some people.

It is interesting to note, however, that Tim mentions that you can decaffeinate your tea. But why would he want to ditch most of caffeine’s benefits? Why wouldn’t he just drink the tea full strength?

Well, there’s a reason for that. I’ll get to it in a little bit. First, to help you make a completely informed decision about whether or not you want to decaffeinate your tea, let’s take a look at the benefits of caffeine.

Ditching the caffeine?

Caffeine has a lot of benefits beyond just helping your brain out a bit. But those are mostly unrelated to your average day of work or helping you get a creative boost.

So there’s a phrase scientists use to describe all of your critical thinking skills. It’s “executive function” and includes: ability to focus, working memory, cognitive flexibility, reasoning, problem solving, and planning. In other words, it involves higher level thinking abilities.

The reason caffeine helps increase focus and keeps you awake is because it blocks adenosine receptors. By blocking them, caffeine allows your brain to communicate in different ways. The excitatory chemicals are able to get through and you’re able to focus, stay awake, and think more effectively.

So why would anyone want to ditch coffee in favor of decaffeinated tea?

The nootropic benefits of Titanium Tea

Titanium Tea is a mix of different teas (green and black). The black tea, in this case, is Pu-Erh. Black tea and green tea have different pharmacokinetics and half-lives. What this means to you is this: the beneficial compounds in black tea and green tea diffuse and activate at different times – unlike coffee.

Since coffee is made from a single source, the caffeine activates after 20 minutes and eventually runs out. But with black tea and green tea, there are different peaks. What you end up with is something like a sustained release supplement. The effects last longer so you don’t have to keep consuming cup after cup.

If you’re still wondering why Tim would get rid of caffeine though, it’s because he added a sneaky ingredient – yerba mate.

Nootropics tea to aid anxiety

Yerba mate is a tea made from the leaves of the South American rainforest holly tree. Tim Ferriss recommends two different brands: Cruz de Malta and Rosamonte.

Yerba mate has nootropic effects. It’s neuroprotective, increases your energy (thanks largely to its caffeine content), and even has anxiolytic effects. Anxiolytic simply means that it reduces anxiety. With the addition of healthy fats and medium chain triglycerides for additional brain fuel, this is quite a powerful beverage. Take it at your own benefit.